Financial Inclusion

Education

Climate

Where financial returns meet social and environmental impact

By showing that profit and social and environmental benefit can run hand in hand, the field of impact investing is revolutionizing finance by combining portfolio and purpose.

As a growing asset class, impact investing taps into new and creative sources of capital, and unlocks the potential to solve today’s most difficult environmental and societal challenges. To that end, impact investing will play a key role in achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), the interconnected set of 17 goals that call for public and private participants to take action for people and the planet by ending poverty, reducing inequality, protecting the en­vironment and ensuring collective peace and prosperity by 2030.

Impact investing forms a core element of the broader “socially responsible investing” category (SRIs). However in contrast to investments focusing on simply “environmental, social and governance” (ESG) elements, impact investing goes much further and aims for a measurable positive impact be it social, economic or environmental. Impact investors, are concerned with finding that delicate balance between measurable impact and financial return, which are regarded as equal components. Key elements in impact investing are therefore tailored impact man­agement and associated measurement tools and practices, which ensure that the investments create tangible, measurable and sustainable social and environmental benefits for people and the planet.

Impact investing themes

BlueOrchard’s work around the world contributes to 13 SDGs across nine different impact themes over all three ESG criteria. The figure below illustrates the close connections between these three aspects and depicts how BlueOrchard’s investment portfo­lio addresses them.

In line with our vision to foster inclusive growth and shared prosperity, BlueOrchard‘s strategy draws on our two decades of experience and targets four core impact areas, aligning in many key aspects with the game plans of leading development institutions such as the World Bank and its affiliates.